Snape gets Sorted
by Merlin Fisher
Summary: UPDATED!  Marauder era.  A couple bits from Snape's first day at Hogwarts.  Canonfriendly.  Please R&R.  I should probably write a song for the Sorting Hat later.  Does contain SPOILERS and quotes from Deathly Hallows.
1. The Sorting

author's note: As usual, I own none of these characters or the world they live in. I left out most of the names of students getting Sorted because Snape isn't paying attention to most of them, and this story is from his perspective.

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"_Karkaroff intends to flee if the Mark burns."_

"_And are you tempted to join him?"_

"_No," said Snape, gazing out across the grounds. "I am not such a coward."_

"_No," agreed Dumbledore. "You are a braver man by far than Igor Karkaroff. You know, I sometimes think we Sort too soon..." And he walked away, leaving Snape to stare after him in shock and astonishment. What did he mean by that?_

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"Shh!" someone hissed. "They're starting!" The first years gulped nervously and tried to stand still. Snape watched the stool with the hat on it, making his face impassive. He pretended not to notice everybody's eyes on the little group. After all, they weren't really looking at _him_ ... but they soon would be.

"Black, Sirius!" read Professor McGonagall. Sirius advanced to the stool with a confident swing in his stride, though Snape saw James Potter throw Black an encouraging look before he stepped out. Black put on the Sorting Hat and sat down on the stool.

Several long moments passed. Snape glanced toward the Slytherin table and spotted Lucius Malfoy, the prefect from the train. Malfoy was watching Sirius, his eyebrows slightly raised. The Great Hall was not quite silent, but no one was speaking except in whispers.

Finally the hat called out, "GRYFFINDOR!" Sirius Black grinned triumphantly, removed the Hat, and marched over to the table with scarlet and gold decorations. Snape was still eyeing the Slytherin table, where several students were talking and pointing at Sirius in apparent surprise. They quickly quieted down as the next student tried the hat on.

Snape wondered what was going on with the students who put on the Sorting Hat: their faces were hidden, the way the hat fell over their eyes, so he could judge nothing by their expressions. But according to its song, the hat was able to see inside your head. Snape was not sure he liked that idea. But the Hat didn't seem to say anything except for the name of the student's new House, so maybe it was safe to wear it ... if everyone here had tried it on once, surely it couldn't be a hat that told important secrets ...

"Evans, Lily!"

Snape watched Lily walk over to the stool. She moved gracefully, but her face was pale. Snape crossed his fingers, which were hidden in his oversized sleeve, as Lily carefully put the hat on her head.

"GRYFFINDOR!" the hat shouted, almost instantly. Snape gave a tiny groan, as Lily walked over to the Gryffindor table, tossing Snape an apologetic glance. James Potter punched the air with a fist, looking ecstatic. Snape hoped the Hat would stick him in Hufflepuff.

But he was disappointed. When Potter's turn came, the hat put him in Gryffindor without a moment's hesitation. Potter and Black sat together, congratulating each other. Life just wasn't fair.

Snape clenched his teeth furiously when Potter leaned toward Lily to say something, looking hopeful ... but she turned away, snubbing him. That was something, anyway. How dare that arrogant little twerp speak to her. Snape was just in the midst of wondering what spell he should learn to do on Potter first when --

"Snape, Severus!" Much sooner than he'd expected, the moment had come. Snape walked out to the Sorting Hat a little slowly, feeling apprehensive. _Now_ everybody was staring at him. He put the hat on and sat down, shutting his eyes.

A small voice in his ear said: "Well, well, well. Son of Eileen Prince, isn't it? Lots of cleverness, I see. A bit of sensitivity, but courage too. Oh my, such great determination and willpower."

Snape knotted his fingers together in his lap. _Slytherin, _he thought firmly. _I'm going to be in Slytherin. That's where all the most powerful wizards are from._

"Exactly so," said the hat, as if it had heard him thinking. "Though you'd make a fine Ravenclaw, with that dedicated brain of yours ... or a Gryffindor? No?"

_No way!_ Snape thought, almost speaking out loud. _That House is for self-righteous idiots like Potter._ For the moment, he had forgotten Lily was in there. _Besides, _Snape told himself, _my mother was a pureblood._

"True, true," said the Sorting Hat. "Very well then, you'll be SLYTHERIN!" It shouted the last word loud enough for the whole Hall to hear, and Snape stood up, took off the hat, and moved over to the Slytherin table. Lucius Malfoy gave him a smile and a pat on the back, though several of the other students looked at Snape askance, obviously put off by his oversized secondhand robes. Most of them wore robes of fine new material that fitted them perfectly, no doubt custom-tailored.

"Well done," said Malfoy, letting everybody see that Snape was to be accepted here. "That took a little while, didn't it?" Snape shrugged.

"Anyhow, welcome to Slytherin House," said Malfoy. "Next comes the Headmaster's speech and then there's the big start-of-term feast..."

"Bet you're looking forward to that, eh?" said a heavy-looking second year boy. "Scrawny little thing, aren't you?" He prodded Snape.

Snape ignored him, but the second year poked him again, harder. It hurt.

Annoyed, Snape whipped out his wand and said: _"Langlock!" _The boy squealed as his tongue glued itself to the roof of his mouth. He fumbled for his own wand, trying to fix the curse, as the other students laughed loudly. Snape gave a small smile, pleased that his first official spell as a student had worked perfectly.

"That was good!" exclaimed Malfoy. "I didn't get the hang of that one till I was a third year ... you know any other hexes? I've got a good book I should show you."

"My mother's got a few spellbooks at home," said Snape, pocketing his wand again. His reputation was brightening, as the other Slytherin first years (and some older students as well) looked on Snape with a bit of admiration, or at least with healthy respect. "Eileen Prince, maybe you've heard of her?" As he spoke, he caught sight of Lily at the distant Gryffindor table. She looked so fine in her new school robes. The sight almost made Snape forget about his own shabby clothing.

Malfoy looked thoughtful. "Dunno ... sorry, I'll ask my father about it. Say, Severus, do you like Quidditch?" But Snape wasn't listening.

"Severus?"

Snape blinked. "Sorry, what was that?"

Malfoy grinned, trying to follow Snape's gaze. "What's over there that's so interesting?"

Snape attempted to bring his mind back to current affairs. His thoughts had been quite elsewhere. He nodded at the table across the Hall. "See that red-haired girl over there at the Gryffindor table? Lily Evans? I know her a little bit. We met a few years ago. I told her a thing or two about wizards, she didn't ... well, she didn't know much. Her parents are Muggles." Snape trailed off, realizing perhaps he shouldn't have said that to these people.

Malfoy looked in Lily's direction. He said lightly, "Oh, yeah, she's a cute one, isn't she. Might grow up to be very pretty in a few years. But you don't want to waste time on Mudbloods here. Definitely make some friends in your own House, some pureblood friends – that's how you'll get ahead and make a name for yourself. Let me introduce you round," he added, turning back to the table and gesturing. "This is Rosier, that's Rodolphus Lestrange, you've met Elishi Zabini already ... and _this _is Bellatrix Black."

Bellatrix was a third-year girl of very striking appearance, with long and shining dark hair. Malfoy continued: "Bellatrix is a cousin of Sirius Black's, there ... all the Black family have been in Slytherin. That's why we were so surprised that Sirius went for Gryffindor. Too bad. He'd have been a nice asset. He's tall, I wonder if he'll be a Quidditch player."

Bellatrix said coldly: "Sirius is rather a problem child in the family. Not at all like his younger brother. Sirius ... hasn't the attitude appropriate for a family as prestigious as the Blacks." Snape thought that good looks must run in the Black family, as Bellatrix was quite beautiful. But she looked haughty and proud.

Snape held out his hand, cautiously. "Er ... hullo," he said. "It's a pleasure to meet you."

Bellatrix did not take his hand. She just looked at him. Eventually Snape withdrew his hand and mumbled: "Never mind then." He decided he didn't like her. Malfoy threw Bellatrix a disapproving look, but she just picked up her goblet and twirled it idly, ignoring him.

"Oh well, Bella, don't take it so hard about Sirius," said Malfoy. "Your sister Narcissa is coming next year, she'll probably be in our House, right?"


	2. Potions Lesson

The next morning, Snape saw from his schedule that the first class was Potions. The Slytherin and Gryffindor first years both had it together. Snape smiled as he read over the parchment: here was a piece of luck! He'd get to see Lily. Too bad Potter and Black would be there, too, but that couldn't be helped. He put on his best robes, the only new set he'd gotten in fact, and followed the others to the Potions classroom. It turned out to be in one of the dungeons.

Professor Slughorn was a short, paunchy wizard with a jovial attitude and a mustache that reminded Snape of a walrus. He made a short little welcome speech about the many and varied applications of potion-making, how it involved careful adherence to instructions but also required a bit of improvisation, etcetera. Snape had read the textbook and knew most of this already. Then Slughorn asked a few questions from the first chapter of the book.

Finally, the interesting part of class began. Slughorn pointed his wand at the blackboard, and a recipe appeared there. "Now, I want to see you all make a Clarity Concoction. The stuff's a wonderful treatment for the complexion, if you do it right... you all should've brought most of the ingredients in your kits, the rest are in the cupboard over there, and ..." He took a bottle from his pocket and set it on the desk so everyone could see. "Here's a sample so you can see what it should look like. Go on and get started, let's see how you do. I'll check your work in about twenty minutes." He sat down at his desk, put his feet up, and started reading a book.

Snape took out some ingredients, opened his Potions text, and went to work, glancing at the board occasionally. This was easy. Before long, his cauldron was full of a translucent, glimmering turquoise potion. It appeared identical to Slughorn's sample. Satisfied, he looked up to see how Lily was doing nearby.

She pushed her hair back from her face. A damp strand of it stuck to her forehead. Her potion was cloudy and too dark a shade of blue. "Whew," she said. "This stuff is harder than it looks, isn't it?" She noticed Snape's potion was already finished. "Hey, you've gotten it! That was fast. Good job."

Snape glanced round to see what the rest of the class was up to. Not far away, Potter and Black had quickly gotten bored and started horsing around. They began shooting sparks at one another and bouncing about, pretending to duel. If they weren't careful, they were going to cause an accident. Professor Slughorn was still immersed in his book and didn't seem to notice.

Snape hurried over to Lily's cauldron. "Here, let me help," he said, and bent over to look closely at the potion. "Too acidic," he muttered. "Try sprinkling in some powdered eggshell – just a bit, mind –"

Lily did so, and both of them watched with their heads together as the potion fizzed, then lightened and started to clear. Soon it was a nice turquoise color. "Perfect!" Lily exclaimed. "Thanks, Sev." She smiled at him.

Snape returned the smile, feeling very happy, and turned back to his own cauldron --

"_Watch out!"_ somebody yelled. Just then, James Potter, who was still messing around with Sirius Black, dodged a line of sparks from his friend and lost his balance. He stumbled and fell, and his foot caught on the edge of Snape's cauldron, overturning it. Snape was splattered liberally with the potion. Since it was meant for use on the skin, luckily it didn't hurt, but it bleached his robes.

"Oops, sorry about that," said James, scrambling to his feet. A thin brown-haired Gryffindor boy passed him a handkerchief. "Thanks, Remus," James said, mopping himself. Then he turned to Lily. "Are you all right?" he asked, even though she'd been standing ten feet away.

"I'm fine," she said, without looking at him. "But I think you should apologize to Severus here. You've ruined his potion! Not to mention his robes."

"I said sorry, didn't I?" James said diffidently. "Oh, well..." He wadded up the handkerchief and tossed it back to its owner.

"What's going on over here?" boomed Slughorn, coming over to the scene of the mess. "Oh dear, seems we've had an accident ... are you all right, boys?"

"Fine," said James. "I'm all right," muttered Snape, not too happily. His best set of robes, ruined on his very first day ...

"Good show, then," said Slughorn, clapping his hands. He raised his voice to address the whole class. "Now, go back to your cauldrons and stand by them, and I'll come round and have a look."

Snape reached out to pick up his cauldron, glaring at Potter and Black as they returned to theirs. His potion was spilled and the cauldron had a big dent in it.

"Oh, look!" Slughorn called out. He was standing by Lily's cauldron. "Everyone look over here, see this beautiful Clarity Concoction that Miss Evans has brewed!" Several members of the class applauded.

"Er," said Lily, blushing. She looked quite pretty when she blushed. "Well, I did have a little bit of help, you know ..."

"Come now, don't be so modest," said Slughorn heartily. "Five points for Gryffindor. You did splendidly. Class dismissed."

Most of the class put out the fires and took their cauldrons to rinse out. Remus was still standing by his, trying to practice a cleaning spell on his handkerchief. "C'mon, Lupin, let's get a move on," said Sirius, picking up the boy's cauldron.

"Just a second, I've nearly got it now," muttered Remus, frowning at his handkerchief. It was still covered in blue potion.

"Oh, you can toss it in the laundry later! Let's go. You don't want to be late to Transfiguration, you saw yesterday how strict Professor McGonagall is."

"I was just practicing," said Remus, as he trailed out behind the other Gryffindors. "Bye," said Lily, and she followed them.

Snape rinsed out his own cauldron carefully. He wished there were time to run back to his room to change robes, but no chance: they had Herbology next and the Slytherin dorm was too far away. He'd have to go until lunch looking like this. Just his luck. The other Slytherins weren't going to be happy with him either, since he had helped Gryffindor get points. He hoped no one had noticed.


End file.
